


no one round here’s good at keeping their eyes closed

by darksideofmyroom



Series: we’re barely holding on [3]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Foggy and Claire are in this because I love them, Gen, Humor, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug, Matt Murdock is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, and I love him and miss him daily, he’s low key a softie, it’s kinda light though, or an attempt at it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 05:57:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18845020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darksideofmyroom/pseuds/darksideofmyroom
Summary: “We’re friends, right? Like, crime fighting buddies or something”orFive times Matt runs into Spider-Man and the one time he meets Peter Parker.





	1. Saturday Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I have not abandoned this series! Don’t know if that’s good or terrible news, but here we are anyway.  
> I only wrote the first three chapters of this, but they have been sitting in my drafts for so long I’ve decided to post. It’s probably going to be a long time til I upload the whole story, cause I’ve got a couple other published works that I probably need to focus on first.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think in the comments, I love when you guys do that.

They say that the city never sleeps, but they don’t really know how true that is.

 

They’ll never know the way Matt knows, they’ll never truly feel it come alive, never truly acknowledge its restlessness.

 

Sometimes Matt forces himself to think of it as a blessing, the way he can  _ hear it,  _ even when it feels like a curse.

 

Truth is, it’s neither. It’s more simply his cross to bear, his mission.

 

Matt wouldn’t exist if he couldn’t feel New York.

 

There would be no reason for him to breathe if he wasn’t able to hear them, the people.

The screams, the fear, the joy, the horror, the laughter, the violence, the life.

 

He sits on a roof, it doesn’t matter which one, and he listens, he waits for the call.

 

Tonight, something is different.

 

Spider-Man has just landed on the building right in front of the one he’s sitting on.

 

“It’s late, you should be home” he doesn’t bother turning his head to face him.

 

“Tomorrow is Sunday, no school”

 

Matt nods, and he thinks of just how young the kid really is. 

 

Spider-Man moves closer to the edge, and for a moment Matt thinks he’s going to jump and join him on his roof.

Instead he sits down, his legs dangling over the void.

 

There’s a moment of apparent silence, which means nothing to Matt ‘cause he’s always got something to listen to.

 

Then the kid speaks up “I’m sorry I messed up the other time, you didn’t get the info you were looking for”

 

It feels wrong to hear him apologise, Matt can’t really say what it is that bothers him about it, but it sure does.

 

“It’s fine kid” he sighs “I’m just glad you’re okay. And that Stark didn’t kill me”

 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry about that! I swear he didn’t mean to hurt you, he just..freaks out sometimes. And I guess I’m the one to blame for that, most of the times, but-”

 

Right.

Matt almost forgot Spider-Man rambles.

 

“Hey, don’t worry about that. Stark already apologised”

 

That seems to get the boy’s attention. He stops talking abruptly, Matt hears the lens in his mask widen in surprise.

 

“He did?”

 

“Yeah” Matt scoffs “Well, among other things”

 

“What did he say?” there’s a quiet anxiety in the question, Matt can feel the younger vigilante tense with anticipation and something like second-hand-embarrassment.

 

Matt finds that to be quite funny, so he decides to have a laugh out of it.

 

“He was worried about you, asked me to look after you”

 

The kid all but groans loudly, throwing his head back in frustration.

“I can’t believe he’s doing this to me”

 

Matt can’t help but chuckle.

 

“Did you agree? Please tell me you didn’t agree”

 

“Sorry, I said I would help you out”

 

“Why?!”

 

“I guess that’s the right thing to do when Tony Stark shows up at your doorstep.”

 

Spider-Man runs a hand over his mask in frustration “Ugh, why is he like that?”

 

Matt considers his question, then he says “He cares about you”

 

The kid shrugs, like it doesn’t really matter, but Matt knows it does matter, and it matters a lot.

 

He didn’t get to have someone care for him so paternally, not after his father died.

 

The nuns were more like an echo, there but not really present. They were never enough to placate his nightmares and he didn’t feel protected around them, not really.

The orphanage never felt like home, it was just the place where Matt grew up, surrounded by people but truly alone, the concept of feeling loved too far away in time to remember.

 

With Stick he had hoped.

He had felt some sort of warmth in the distance and he had thrown himself towards it, longing for support, guidance, some resemblance of affection.

He was young, and hurt, deeply wounded, but he was still naive enough to hope.

 

Matt couldn’t rationalize through the thick veil of hope clouding his thoughts, he didn’t realize that Stick wasn’t looking for a child to comfort, but for a soldier to sacrifice to his war.

 

Which was why it hurt so much to watch Stick walk away from him: he thought he had found someone to be his family.

 

But Stark isn’t like Stick, Matt can say that without a second thought now.

 

He worries for the kid, he wants him to be safe.

 

Matt can only imagine how having someone like that when he found himself alone in the world would have felt like.

He’s glad the kid knows the feeling.

 

“Listen, I want you to know that you don’t have to do it, it’s fine, really, don’t feel obliged to-”

 

“It’s no problem, really. I figured you’d need backup sometime, and I’m here to protect my city as well. So, count on me”

 

“Oh. Well, okay! Yeah, you too! You can count on me too, I mean. God this is so cool”

 

He smiles, somewhere between amusement and a kind of endearment he can’t quite recognize.

 

That’s when he picks up the sound of terrified screams, coming from a couple streets over.

He gets up from where he was crouching.

“I need to go, but I’ll see you around, kid”

 

He’s off as soon as he’s finished speaking, running across roofs and jumping from one to another.

 

Spider-Man’s response comes when Matt is already out of his sight, but he still hears it, loud and clear: “Sure, see you around!”

 


	2. The Cat

Matt could feel him approaching at full speed mere seconds before it happened, but he was carrying too many bags for him to easily get out of the way.

And he can’t speak for Spider-Man but he can assume he wasn’t paying that much attention, given the fact that he managed to crash right into Matt and send both of them (and a cat?) to the ground.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” the kid gets up immediately, checking the cat is secure in his arms before he focuses on Matt.

He guesses the kid has his priorities.

“Are you okay?” he offers Matt a hand, which he takes gladly, and pulls him off the ground with a little more force than was probably required.

“Yeah, I’m fine”

Spider-Man answers by shoving the cat against his chest and crouching down to pick up his groceries and put them back in the bags.

Matt is thankful he didn’t buy any eggs.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there”

“Well, I didn’t either” he chuckles.

Spider-Man raises his head to look at him, and he sounds mortified as he sputters out the third “I’m sorry” 

“It’s fine, guess you were too caught up stopping crime” he pats the cat’s head awkwardly, feeling it digging its claws into his coat “What’s up with the cat?”

“Oh, yeah” Spider-Man gets up and reaches for the animal, which Matt is honestly quite happy to give back “I’m trying to find her owner”

“Any luck?”

Spider-Man hands him all three of his bags, one at a time.  
“Eh, not really”

“Sorry to hear. And thank you”

“You’re welcome! I’ve gotta go now, sorry. But have a nice day, sir, stay safe!”

“Sure, you too”

“Thank you, and sorry again!” he throws a web and starts swinging away, under the amazed gazes and soft “ohh”s of the crowd.

Matt smiles to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this sucks. bye :)


	3. The Backpack

Matt is sympathetic of Spider-Man’s situation.  
He’s been through it as well, he knows it sucks.

“Dude, the smell is so bad in there! Gosh, I could barely breathe”

Matt laughs, he pulls the kid’s arm as he helps him out of the dumpster “Not sure what you expected”

“This is the worst” he says once he’s finally outside and no longer surrounded by trash. He sniffs once and groans loudly “Wow, perfect. I stink. Do you happen to know what time it is?”

“Around eleven”

“That’s even more perfect! Yeah, Mister Stark is going to kill me”

“Why would he do that, now?”

Spider-Man sighs out of frustration and the action just screams teenager to Matt’s ears.

“He’s waiting for me at the apartment, I said I wouldn’t be late doing, y’know, vigilantism, but then that maniac in the crab costume just had to show up and ruin my day”

Matt blinks at him.  
“A maniac in a what?”

“Yeah, I know, that was nuts. Hey, unless you’ve got other things to do, would you help me find my backpack? I webbed it in a alley a couple blocks away”

He doesn’t know what on Earth possesses him to agree.

He follows Spider-Man down small, hidden streets until they reach the spot where the backpack was supposed to be, just to find it wasn’t there anymore.

Matt isn’t really surprised, as good as a hiding spot a random alley may be, it certainly isn’t the safest place to leave your stuff.

The kid has a harder time accepting this.

“Oh come on! It’s the second time this week! I promised May I would have been more careful!”  
he raises his hands towards the sky dramatically “What have I ever done to deserve that? Why must you be so cruel?”

Matt scoffs, amusement slipping into his voice when he says “Alright, I get it, it’s a tragedy. Did you have anything of value in your bag?”

“No but-”

“Well, then I guess you’ve just gotta move on. Isn’t Stark waiting for you, anyway?”

“Yes, I almost forgot!”

Matt can’t believe this kid.

“Well? You want me to walk you?” he means it as a joke, but Spider-Man doesn’t seem to pick up on that.

“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll call him. But you could stay until he arrives, if you want to”

The offer catches him off guard, mostly because of how genuine it sounds, but before he can say anything the kid is already speaking into his mask.

“Karen, call Mister Stark”

Right, his suit has an AI. Which just happens to be named Karen.

There’s a beat of silence in which he guesses Stark picks up the phone.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine Mister Stark. Yeah, I swear. No, I didn’t forget, I just got caught up patrolling”

It feels weird to only hear one side of the conversation, and Matt knows he could get to listen to the other side of it too, if he wanted to.  
But it doesn’t feel right, so he waits patiently as the phone call goes on.

“I know, I’m sorry. I lost track of time, I’m so sorry. Hey, can you come get me? Karen’s sending you my location”

A pause and then “Alright, we’ll be waiting for you”

The kid ends the call with a loud sigh.  
“I hate Wednesdays” he declares.

Matt smiles “Guess today’s not your lucky day”

“You have no idea”

“That bad, uh?” 

“I’m just really tired all the time, I need the weekend to be right now”

Matt realizes the kid is in some way venting to him, and that brings a foreign weight that he’s not sure how to distribute.

“But you still patrol at the weekend” he uses the same tone as when he’s trying to prove a point, even though this time, maybe for the first time ever, he’s not totally aware of what that point may be.

“Yeah, of course”

“Maybe you should take a day off, then” he shrugs.

“I can’t”

“Why not? New York won’t crumble in one day”

“But criminals won’t take the day off just because I do. Bad things could still happen, people might still need help, I can’t just ignore that”

For a single second, Matt forgets how young this boy actually is. Which feels unusual, to say the least, as he is usually hyper aware of that.

“You can’t always be there for everybody” he doesn’t know why he tells him that, because he himself doesn’t really believe his own words.

There’s a second of quiet, and Matt wonders how they ended up having this conversation.

“Do you ever take a day off?”

“Yes” he answers, and it’s just half a lie.

Even though he still can’t ignore the call of the city, even though he still hasn’t managed to let go of Daredevil, he is attempting to, really.

Foggy and Karen keep telling him to try, and he does, he does try.  
He just thinks there’s still a long way to go before he succeeds. 

“I just- I don’t think I could ever do that. These powers I’ve got, they carry a certain responsibility with them and I-“

“Pe-“ Stark cuts himself off once he notices Matt “Spider-Man!”

“Mister Stark!” he exclaims, and just like that he’s back at being a carefree teenage boy.

He runs up to Stark, who wraps an arm over his shoulder before he gets his attention to Matt.

“Hey there, Daredevil. How’s things?”

“Same old. I think Spider-Man has more to tell you”

That seems to remind the kid that “I need a new backpack”

Stark looks down at him, rolling his eyes “It’s the second time this week, kid”

“Sorry”

Stark sighs “It’s okay, let’s just go now. I’ve been waiting for literal hours. Say goodbye to your friend”

“Bye Daredevil!”

Matt shakes his head, but a small smile creeps up on his face.

He listens to the two for a while, Stark asking Spider-Man if he remembered to turn his suit heater on, cause he doesn’t want him catching any cold, and the kid rambling about his day and how much he hates Wednesdays.

Then he turns away, and starts walking towards the opposite direction.


End file.
